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Grace, mercy, and peace be upon you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the text comes from the Gospel reading. You may be seated. It was on this day in 1530 when laymen, princes of Saxony, and various other provinces in Germany risked a great deal to read before the emperor what their faith was and how it was not based on tradition, nor on a pope, nor on the councils of the church, but based purely on Scripture. And they read aloud what we call the Augsburg Confession.
In fact, if you go to the back of the church, there’s an old cornerstone right beneath the center. Outside, there’s also a cornerstone, and usually you would see these three letters: U-A-C, which stand for Unaltered Augsburg Confession. It was the first statement of faith, and it logically and reasonably followed, though it took 13 years later, what Luther did when in 1517 he laid out those 95 theses.
But to confess Jesus, even if it is to other Christians, because the Roman Catholic Church was Christian and still is, to confess the Christian faith, even though it was different from what the Roman Church taught, is a risk. It still is to this day, for you to confess what you believe, even when it’s different from what another Christian believes. You don’t wash it away and say, well, it doesn’t matter, let’s just all get along. If you know it to be true, that’s denying the truth.
In the country of Russia, from the 1600s all the way till 1917 and the Bolshevik Revolution, a very, very large church existed throughout Russia called the Lutheran Church. It happened before Catherine the Great, but Catherine the Great was the big influx of these Germans and other Lutherans from parts of Europe to settle in Russia. They wanted tax dollars, and they wanted productive citizens, and they wanted to grow the Russian Empire. It was the second largest church behind the Russian Orthodox Church.
For 200 plus years, these Christians said, oh, these Russians aren’t going to ever do anything to us. We’re fellow believers with them. And then in 1917, the Communists took over Russia, and it became the Soviet Union. Though they had once claimed Christianity, and though they had allowed the Russian Orthodox Church to continue, most of the pastors of the Lutheran Church were slaughtered or, if they were lucky, they were sent out to a gulag. Most of the Lutheran Church buildings, which were scattered across all large cities, were destroyed, except for a few.
The price that’s paid when Christians confess the Christian faith. Well, the one that you’re very familiar with is the story of the early Christian church. For 300 years before the Roman Empire became Christian, Christians risked everything to meet together privately and at night so as not to be seen. Christians risked everything by being businessmen in a town where, if you were not a part of the pagan culture, you would not get the business. Christians risk everything. They risk their jobs, they risk their status, and they also risk their life for confessing the faith.
Jesus said, “Brother will deliver brother over to death.” Jesus said, “The father will deliver over his own child.” And Jesus said, “Children will rise against parents and have them put to death.” Jesus does not mention people who are pagans. He doesn’t mention people who are not close to you in a relationship. Jesus mentions the very people whose blood courses through their veins as yours—family. Of all the possible people that could stab you in the back, Jesus mentions family. Why? Because we risk everything in standing up for what we believe when it’s counter or different than our family.
Jesus even added, “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.” Wow, isn’t that a great way to encourage you and me and build the church? You’re going to be hated by all for my name’s sake. Don’t worry about it. But as soon as he says that, Jesus adds this promise: “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” Not the one who is successful, not the one who attracts the most attention, not the one who accomplishes the most things. The one who endures will be saved.
Just like these Christians, the Germans in Augsburg, the Lutherans in Siberia, and the early Christians, as well as any other example that you want to make around the world even to this day. If we love God above all things, even our family, we will be hated. Period. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, a servant not above his master.” Meaning, “If I, who am God in the flesh, was rejected by my people and the world, so you, my disciple and my servant, will be rejected and despised by the world.”
Because there are only two possibilities: Loved by God or despised by God. Loved by the world or despised by the world. That’s all the possibilities that we have. And we risk being despised by the world. Jesus was called Beelzebub. Jesus was called Satan. Was Jesus called Satan by pagans? No, he was called Satan by fellow Jews from within his own home. “A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown.”
Now we begin to see the profundity of Jesus saying brother will put up another brother, a parent, the child, the child will also the parent—the inner family relations that confessing the truth is going to bring. Jesus made a point to these people at that time, the apostles who were starting the church, as well as to you and to me, as well as to all the Christians who have been and are persecuted: “Have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be made known.”
You and I know by faith what is our inheritance: eternal life, but it’s hidden, isn’t it? Will it be revealed on the last day? You better believe it. But in the meantime, between now and the last day, it will actually appear as if we’re the biggest wimps and wusses in the world. And it is as if the pagans of the world are the triumphant ones. But at the end of the world, what will be revealed about the pagans of this world? They will be revealed to be damned. Like the parable of the sheep and the goats. The goats were completely flummoxed when they were told that they shall inherit eternal life. And the goats were flummoxed because they knew they ought to be in eternal life. And yet it was revealed to them, “Depart from me, ye accursed ones, into the fire prepared from the foundation of the world.”
That’s why Jesus says, “Have no fear. Do not fear those who kill the body.” In other words, fear God and fear Him alone. Don’t fear your son. Don’t fear your daughter. Don’t fear your mother. Don’t fear your father. Don’t fear your grandparents. Don’t fear your grandchildren. Fear God above all things.
And then God throws in a couple of other comforting things. The first comforting thing is sparrows. They’re everywhere. They’re everywhere. He says, “Are not sparrows sold for so much? And not one of those sparrows falls from the sky.” A sparrow cannot die without God allowing it.
Now the next one is kind of humorous. The next example of how God is in control: God is in control of this fur on your head. Think about the amount of time you spend with that which is atop your head. Color it, curl it, straighten it, cut it. Try to grow it, try to keep it from falling out. Try a comb over or a comb back. We do a lot of things with that which God allows. He allows it to get gray or not to get gray. He allows it to be short or long, curly or straight, thin or thick shafted. He allows it, and none of that can happen without God. So for some of us, He doesn’t have to count too high, okay? For other of us, he’s got to count a whole lot higher for you thick-haired people.
The bottom line is, he has it in his ideas and mind, your substance to him. You remember that passage from 1 John: “We love because he first loved us.” So if we love because he first loved us, we can only confess Jesus because he first confessed us. And do you know when he confessed you as his beloved? When you were a baby in your parents’ arms as that pastor baptized you. He confessed, “This is one of my own.” And he does not confess you when it’s easy for him. When he was dying on the cross, he was confessing you. As he died and faced hell for you, he confesses you when it’s not convenient.
He confesses you always as His. And He is calling you to persist in confessing Him. Many get started down this path, but few finish it. It’s just like the parable of the seed and the sower. Some grow fast, and it does grow, but it has shallow soil, so it peters out and dies. Some grow, but it grows among thorns, and it’s choked out. The one who endures to the end will be saved.
It’s what Jesus said: not who is successful, not who is triumphant, big results, but who is faithful in confessing him as God and Lord. It is when Jesus says, “This one is mine,” that not only drives us to our knees and makes us say, “Lord, have mercy upon me,” because I haven’t claimed you as my own always in my words and in my actions, right?
It’s also that same thing, “This one is my own,” why God says, lifts you up and continues to dust you off and set you upon your way to endure. Again, St. John in Revelation said it a different way: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I shall give thee the crown of life.” Not successful, not better than, just like. Being just like Him is to be faithful.
He who confesses you, and in dying, we inherit everything that He has already given us now. It’s finally revealed, though it’s hidden now; it’s finally made known. In the name of the One who confesses You always, Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.